Another day of frustration for Eric and I. Eric drove all the way to Yanayacu yesterday (four hours there) and all the way back (two hours at midnight). He dropped off his colleague Mel, her student Leeann, and another Ecuadorian student and all their equipment so they could start work on the wren project. They dropped by with crickets and fed them celery from our refrigerator - they are fattening up the crickets to feed them to the wrens they plan to catch. I was asleep when Eric arrived home, too tired to stay up and listen to the election results, and did not hear him come in.
While Maya was getting ready in the morning, Eric was anxiously getting his papers together for his Immigration Office visit. He was agitated and worried and not at all excited about another day of waiting and disappointment. As far as I understood, it made no sense for me to try to get my visa, because my passport was at the Brazilian embassy and Maya's officially stamped birth certificated had not arrived (Salt Lake was worried about this being a fraudulent request and were holding up sending it to us). Eric has only a few days left on his visa and so his situation is urgent.
When I arrived at my Spanish class, Eric was talking to Amparo. He had called a new lawyer, who was a friend of Daniel, a student who had worked with Eric last year at Sacha Lodge. He was planning to meet her and wanted to try to get my visa and that of Maya's as well. I went along although I suspected that without the proper documents, it made no sense for me to go, and I would rather stay and practice Spanish. Eric needed money in his account to show he could support himself in Ecuador, so while at the Spanish school, I opened an ING account, which would make it possible for me to transfer funds to his account anytime. My bank will not allow me to do so, thus with an ING account, I can transfer from wells Fargo to my ING account and then to his. It turned out that it would take four days for this to be possible, so opening up the account was no help to him yet. He actually asked his colleague to put the $1000 in the account so that he could print out the statement and use it for today at the Visa office.
We dragged Amparo along and walked to a notary to get my bank account and Eric's notarized. I was to apply for the visa separately, because we did not have a marriage certificate and therefore could not prove we were married. If 'living together', we could apply for separate visas. We met the lawyer on Amazonas near the notary's office and explained our situation and she agreed to help us. Our first stop was an internet shop where we printed off account information, filled out forms, separated our files (we need a 'carpeta' for each and separate information as if we were not together. I did not have my passport, so we had a notary sign for my passport and that of Maya's and for the two bank accounts. Eric had been to the Immigration office earlier and had '101' as his number. When we arrived at the Immigration office, his number had been called five minutes earlier so we had missed our slot. Amparo quickly got another number, '158', before the office stopped offering numbers. Whew. Crisis averted.
At noon, Amparo left to meet her next student at the school while we waited. The lawyer slipped off to write a letter introducing my case (as different from Eric's) and then left again when she realized that it was better to address it to another official. I was stunned at the style of the letter, excessively polite and overly florid in the request for an extension of our tourist visa. I guess that is how it is done here, but the letter was embarasing. We were the last number to be called around 2 PM in the afternoon. My visa application was rejected because I did not have the special stamped birth certificate for Maya, and also because my bank account did not have my name on it. I was unsurprised. Eric's was rejected because our return date was in 80 days, not 91 to 180, and the visa we were asking for was for 3 to 6 months. Apparently there is no way to extend for just 60 days.. Our lawyer begged the official to overlook that item, but suddenly we found ourselves back at the internet shop where Eric changed the date on our return ticket in some magical way, we rushed back to the Immigration office and viola, Eric had started his visa process!
I paid the lawyer $50 for all her efforts (we were very appreciative) and stopped in at the internet shop again to call Salt Lake City and try to find out how to get the stamped birth certificate. We learned that although Eric had Fedexed and paid for the return envelope, the official in Sale Lake did not like the return address, so alternate arrangements were made, and we should have the birth certificate in a few days. Eric will use computer magic to add my name to my account (for security purposes the account does not have my name on it) and Maya and I should (no guarantees) have our visas next week. What a day. Bureaucracy!!!!!!!
Eric is entirely beside himself. He cannot tolerate this sort of frustration. He has been a bear about this for days. While waiting for our number to be called, he mentioned that this experience at the Immigration office has turned him off Ecuador completely, which is new for Eric, who until now has pushed to live in Ecuador forever. Perhaps I am less distraught about the process, because it is Eric who messed up and did not inform himself about the visa issues before we left, and because I am very systematic about getting things done and following instructions and completing tasks. Eric thought he could provide only a few items from the list of requirements for a visa and be lucky. He found out otherwise these last three visits to the Immigration office.
While Maya was getting ready in the morning, Eric was anxiously getting his papers together for his Immigration Office visit. He was agitated and worried and not at all excited about another day of waiting and disappointment. As far as I understood, it made no sense for me to try to get my visa, because my passport was at the Brazilian embassy and Maya's officially stamped birth certificated had not arrived (Salt Lake was worried about this being a fraudulent request and were holding up sending it to us). Eric has only a few days left on his visa and so his situation is urgent.
When I arrived at my Spanish class, Eric was talking to Amparo. He had called a new lawyer, who was a friend of Daniel, a student who had worked with Eric last year at Sacha Lodge. He was planning to meet her and wanted to try to get my visa and that of Maya's as well. I went along although I suspected that without the proper documents, it made no sense for me to go, and I would rather stay and practice Spanish. Eric needed money in his account to show he could support himself in Ecuador, so while at the Spanish school, I opened an ING account, which would make it possible for me to transfer funds to his account anytime. My bank will not allow me to do so, thus with an ING account, I can transfer from wells Fargo to my ING account and then to his. It turned out that it would take four days for this to be possible, so opening up the account was no help to him yet. He actually asked his colleague to put the $1000 in the account so that he could print out the statement and use it for today at the Visa office.
We dragged Amparo along and walked to a notary to get my bank account and Eric's notarized. I was to apply for the visa separately, because we did not have a marriage certificate and therefore could not prove we were married. If 'living together', we could apply for separate visas. We met the lawyer on Amazonas near the notary's office and explained our situation and she agreed to help us. Our first stop was an internet shop where we printed off account information, filled out forms, separated our files (we need a 'carpeta' for each and separate information as if we were not together. I did not have my passport, so we had a notary sign for my passport and that of Maya's and for the two bank accounts. Eric had been to the Immigration office earlier and had '101' as his number. When we arrived at the Immigration office, his number had been called five minutes earlier so we had missed our slot. Amparo quickly got another number, '158', before the office stopped offering numbers. Whew. Crisis averted.
At noon, Amparo left to meet her next student at the school while we waited. The lawyer slipped off to write a letter introducing my case (as different from Eric's) and then left again when she realized that it was better to address it to another official. I was stunned at the style of the letter, excessively polite and overly florid in the request for an extension of our tourist visa. I guess that is how it is done here, but the letter was embarasing. We were the last number to be called around 2 PM in the afternoon. My visa application was rejected because I did not have the special stamped birth certificate for Maya, and also because my bank account did not have my name on it. I was unsurprised. Eric's was rejected because our return date was in 80 days, not 91 to 180, and the visa we were asking for was for 3 to 6 months. Apparently there is no way to extend for just 60 days.. Our lawyer begged the official to overlook that item, but suddenly we found ourselves back at the internet shop where Eric changed the date on our return ticket in some magical way, we rushed back to the Immigration office and viola, Eric had started his visa process!
I paid the lawyer $50 for all her efforts (we were very appreciative) and stopped in at the internet shop again to call Salt Lake City and try to find out how to get the stamped birth certificate. We learned that although Eric had Fedexed and paid for the return envelope, the official in Sale Lake did not like the return address, so alternate arrangements were made, and we should have the birth certificate in a few days. Eric will use computer magic to add my name to my account (for security purposes the account does not have my name on it) and Maya and I should (no guarantees) have our visas next week. What a day. Bureaucracy!!!!!!!
Eric is entirely beside himself. He cannot tolerate this sort of frustration. He has been a bear about this for days. While waiting for our number to be called, he mentioned that this experience at the Immigration office has turned him off Ecuador completely, which is new for Eric, who until now has pushed to live in Ecuador forever. Perhaps I am less distraught about the process, because it is Eric who messed up and did not inform himself about the visa issues before we left, and because I am very systematic about getting things done and following instructions and completing tasks. Eric thought he could provide only a few items from the list of requirements for a visa and be lucky. He found out otherwise these last three visits to the Immigration office.
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